PESTICIDES CONTROL ACT

CHAPTER 430

PESTICIDES CONTROL ACT

AN ACT to provide for the control of pesticides, and for other purposes

connected therewith or incidental thereto.

1st August, 2001

ACT XI of 2001 , as amended by Legal Notice 426 of 2007 ; and Acts

XXIX of 2007 , VI of 2011 and XV of 2025.

The short title of this Act is the Pesticides Control Act.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -

"active substances" means chemical substances or micro-

organisms including viruses, which have a general or specific

action against harmful organisms or on plants or plant products;

"advertising" means the promotion of the sale and, or, use of any

pesticide by print, audio or visual media, signs, displays, gifts,

demonstration or word of mouth;

"antidote" means the specific therapeutic treatment used in cases

of poisoning;

"authorisation" means an administrative act by which the

Authority may permit, following a submitted application, the

placing on the market of a pesticide;

"Authority" means the Food Safety and Security Authority as

established by article 4 of the Food Safety and Security Authority

Act and shall include, to the extent of the authority given by the

aforementioned Authority, any of its officers authorised in writing to

act on its behalf for the purposes of this Act;

"biocidal products" means the active substances and preparations

containing one or more active substances, in the form in which they

are supplied to the user, intended to destroy, deter, render harmless,

prevent the action of, or otherwise exert a controlling effect on any

harmful organism by chemical or biological means;

"Board" means the Pesticides Control Board established under

article 10;

"brand" refers to the name under which the pesticide is labelled,

registered and provided by the manufacturer or supplier and which,

if protected under existing legislation, can be used exclusively by

the manufacturer or supplier to distinguish the product from other

pesticides;

"C.A.S. Number" means the Chemical Abstract Service number

as used by International Standard Authorities;

"chemical" means a substance obtained by or used in chemical

processes;

"common name" means the name assigned to the active

substance of a pesticide by the International Standards

Organisation (ISO) or, in the absence of such assigned name, the

name commonly accepted as the generic and non-propriety name

for that particular active substance;

"employer" means any person having in his employment or under

his direction, supervision or control, one or more persons engaged

in the handling or application of pesticides;

"environment" includes water, air, land, wild species of fauna

and flora, and any inter-relationship between them, as well as any

relationship with living organisms;

"formulation" means the final composition of a pesticide as

provided to the user consisting in the combination of active and

other substances, and the proportion thereof, in such pesticide,

designed to render the product effective for the purpose claimed;

"fungi" means all non-chlorophyll bearing thallophytes and

includes rusts, smuts, yeasts, mildews, moulds and bacteria, other

than those forms in or on the bodies of living humans or animals;

"growth regulator" means any substance or mixture of substances

intended, through physiological action, to alter the rate of growth

or the rate of maturation, or otherwise to alter the behaviour of a

plant or the produce thereof; but does not include substances to the

extent that they are intended as plant nutrients, plant inoculants or

soil amendments;

"harmful organisms" means plants, animals, viruses, bacteria and

other pathogens which have an unwanted presence or a detrimental

effect for humans, their activities or the products they use or

produce, or for animals, plants and the environment;

"insect" means any invertebrate belonging to the class Insecta,

and any other allied arthropod forms, including spiders, mites,

ticks, centipedes and woodlice, other than those forms on or in the

bodies of living humans or animals;

" i n t e g r a t e d c o n t r o l " m e a n s th e r a t i o n a l a p p l i c a t i o n o f a

combination of biological, biotechnological, chemical, cultural or

plant-breeding measures whereby the use of chemical pesticides is

limited to the strict minimum necessary to maintain the pest

population at levels below those causing economically

unacceptable damage or loss;

"label" means the written, graphic or printed matter, on or

attached to, the pesticide or the immediate container thereof and the

outside container or wrapper of the retail package of the pesticide;

"manufacture" includes all of any of the stages of production of a

pesticide from raw materials to the final product as supplied to the

user;

"Malta" has the same meaning as is assigned to it in article 124

of the Constitution of Malta;

" M i n i s t e r " m e a n s t h e M i n i s t e r r e s p o n s i b l e f o r foo d, i n

consultation with the Minister or Ministers responsible for Health

and the Environment;

"mollusicides" means substances employed to kill snails, slugs

and species of the same family;

"nematode" means invertebrate animals of the class Nematoda

inhabiting soil, water, plants or plant parts other than those forms

on or in the bodies of living humans or animals, and ''nematodes''

shall be construed accordingly;

"owner" includes any person who may dispose of, or is entrusted

in any capacity with the disposal of, any consumable produce or

pesticide;

"packing" means the transfer or re-packing of pesticides from

any package into any other container;

"person" includes any commercial partnership or association of

persons or any other legal entity;

"pest" means such form of plant or animal life, viruses or other

pathogens considered to have a net negative effect on man and his

activities, other than those forms on or in the bodies of living

humans or animals;

"pesticide" includes all plant protection;

"placing on the market" means any importation or supply of a

pesticide, followed by consignment or disposal, whether in return

for payment or free of charge, other than for storage;

"plant products" means products derived from plants, which are

in an unprocessed state or have undergone a simple, preliminary

processing;

"plant p rotec tion products" means active substa nces and

preparations containing one or more active substances, in the form

in which they are supplied to the user, intended to -

(a) protect plants or plant products against all harmful

organisms or prevent the action of such organisms, in

so far as such substances or preparations are not

otherwise defined below;

(b) influence the life processes of plants, other than as a

nutrient;

(c) preserve plant products, in so far as such substances or

products are not subject to special provisions on

preservatives;

(d) destroy undesired plants; or

(e) destroy parts of plants, check or prevent undesired

growth of plants;

"plants" means live plants and parts of live plants, including fruit

and seeds;

"preparations" means mixtures or solutions composed of two or

more substances of which at least one is an active substance,

intended for use as pesticides;

"registration" means the process whereby the Authority approves

the placing on the market and use of a pesticide following the

evaluation of comprehensive scientific data, demonstrating that the

product is effective for the purpose intended and is not unduly

hazardous to human or animal health or the environment;

"residues" means one or more substances present in or on plants

or products of plant origin, edible animal products or elsewhere in

the environment and resulting from the use of a pesticide, including

their metabolites and products resulting from their degradation or

reaction;

"rodenticides" means substances employed to kill rodents;

"rodents" means all rats and mice belonging to the genera Rattus

and Mus;

"substances" means chemical elements and their compounds, as

they occur naturally or by manufacture, including any impurity

inevitably resulting from the manufacturing process;

"vendor" means any person who sells or otherwise disposes of

any pesticide;

"worker" means any person actually engaged in the handling or

application of pesticides, whether on his own account or under the

direction or employment of another person.

The Authority shall, acting on the advice of the Board,

process the applications for authorisation to place products on the

market, keep a register for the registration of pesticides, and

implement the provisions of this Act and of any regulations made

thereunder.

(1) The Minister may by regulations prescribe the manner

in which authorised pesticides are to be registered, and the time-

limit for the expiry of such registration; at the expiration of such

time-limit, the applicant is to re-submit the relevant application,

together with the then current toxological data for the pesticide in

question.

(2) The Authority, acting on the advice of the Board, shall ensure

that authorisation for registration shall not be granted to any

pesticide unless -

(a) it is sufficiently effective; and

(b) it has no harmful effects on human and animal health

and has no unacceptable negative effect on the

environment.

(1) The Minister may make regulations to impose

c o n d i ti o n s f o r t he c o nt r o l o f t h e im p o r t a t i o n , e x po r t a t i o n ,

manufacture, sale or use of any pesticide, including

(a) the restriction of the importation, manufacture, sale,

distribution and use of any active substance or

pesticide product and the keeping of a pesticide

register;

(b) the keeping of a pesticide register;

(c) the establishment of conditions and requirements for

the authorisation for the importation, manufacture,

sale, distribution and use of any pesticide including

those employed in integrated control management;

(d) the establishment of conditions and requirements

regarding labelling and advertising of any pesticide;

(e) the establishment of requirements for, and duties of,

employers, workers and vendors in connection with

the sale and use of pesticides including those

employed in integrated control management;

(f)

the establishing of the conditions for the disposal of

pesticides’ waste and pesticides’ containers;

(g) the imposition of conditions to control or prohibit the

importation, manufacture, packing, advertising, sale or

use of the active substance found in any pesticide;

(h) Deleted by Act XV.2025.34.

(i)

for any other matters which may be regulated under

this Act.

(2)

Deleted by Act XV.2025.34.

(3) Any regulation made under this Act shall specify the

common name and the C.A.S. Number, where applicable, of the

pesticides concerned.

Deleted by Act XV.2025.34.

Any public officer duly authorised by the Authority for that

purpose shall have power at all times to enter on and inspect any

land, site or building, or any means of transport to ascertain that the

provisions of this Act, or of any regulations made thereunder, have

been or are being complied with and such officer may take samples

of any pesticide or of any produce treated or suspected of being

treated with a pesticide. This provision shall also apply to any

article which may have been in contact with a pesticide.

Deleted by Act XV.2025.34.

(1) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with

any of the provisions of this Act or of any regulation or order made

or given thereunder or who obstructs any public officer in the

execution of his powers or duties under this Act or any regulation

made thereunder shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on

conviction, be liable, in the case of a first conviction, to a fine

(multa) not exceeding one thousand and one hundred and sixty-four

euro and sixty-nine cents (1,164.69) or to imprisonment for a term

no t e x c e e d i n g t h r e e m o n t hs , or t o b o t h s uc h f i n e a nd s u c h

imprisonment, and, in the case of a second or subsequent

conviction, to a fine (multa) not exceeding two thousand and three

hundred and twenty-nine euro and thirty-seven cents (2,329.37) or

to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both

such fine and such imprisonment.

(2) Any person who, except as provided for or allowed under

this Act or for the purposes thereof, communicates or attempts to

communicate to any other person any matter or thing coming to his

notice or being in his possession in the performance of his duties as

a member of the Board shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on

conviction, be liable to a fine (multa) of not less than four hundred

and sixty-five euro and eighty-seven cents (465.87) and not more

than four thousand and six hundred and fifty-eight euro and

seventy-five cents (4,658.75) or to imprisonment for a period not

exceeding one year, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(1) There shall be set up a Pesticides Control Board to be

appointed by the Minister which shall be responsible for -

(a) advising the Authority on any matter relating to the

registration, restriction, importation, manufacture, sale

or use of pesticides including those employed in

integrated control management;

(b) reporting to the Authority on any matter relating to the

regulating, enforcing and monitoring of all legislation

relating to pesticides or on any matter regarding

pesticides;

(c) advising on measures to be taken on any matter arising

from the application of any regulations made under

this Act;

(d) reviewing and making proposals for revision of

existing legislation relating to pesticides; and

(e) such other function in connection with pesticides as

the Minister may prescribe.

(2)

The Pesticides Board shall consist of

(a) a Chairman to be appointed by the Minister;

(b) four members, to be appointed by the Minister, at least

one of whom shall be a farmers’ representative;

(c) Deleted by Act XV.2025.34.

(d) a representative from the educational sector, and a

representative from the Department for Health

Regulation, the Environment and Resources Authority,

the Food Safety and Security Authority, the Occupational

Health and Safety Authority and the Water Services

Corporation.

(3) The members nominated by the Minister shall hold office

in accordance with such terms as established in their letter of

appointment. Where rules of procedure are not prescribed by the

Minister, the Board shall regulate its own procedure.

(4) Every member of the Board shall regard and deal with all

documents and information relating to matters contemplated by or

pursuant to the provisions of this Act as secret and confidential and

shall make and subscribe before a Commissioner for Oaths a

declaration on oath to this effect in the form prescribed which shall

be deposited with the Attorney General.

Notwithstanding the provisions of any regulation made

under this Act restricting the use of any active substance, the

Authority may, on the advice of the Board, allow the use of any type

of active substance found in a pesticide for restricted scientific

research, experimentation and development and for general use

when these active substances are contained in negligible quantities

in products and have no harmful effect on humans, animals or the

environment; the Authority may also permit the use of any pesticide

in exceptional circumstances, which may make the use of such

pesticides necessary.